At long last, iZombie has returned and an extended season 4 trailer reveals that the series has gone full “beast mode”. The iZombie season 3 finale basically shifted the entire paradigm of the show and it looks like this year will be a brave new world indeed. The existence of zombies is no longer a secret, which definitely brings the series into uncharted territory. iZombie returned Monday night and while much has changed, much has also stayed the same.


Very loosely based on the Vertigo comic of the same name, iZombie follows the story of Liv Moore (Rose McIver), whose promising medical career was derailed by a single zombie scratch. Without brains, Liv goes from being dead to being Night of the Living Dead, so she took a job at the coroner’s office to maintain her humanity. However, when Liv ingests grey matter, she sees pieces of the life it once belonged to, which enables her to solve crimes.


For quite some time, the secret that Liv had so desperately been trying to protect had been slowly unraveling. While those closest to her have one by one learned the truth, the world at large had yet to be enlightened about their undead neighbors. That revelation has completely altered the status quo of iZombie. The extended season 4 trailer released by The CW proves that the series has no intention of taking the easy way out of answering all of the difficult questions raised at the end of last season.


The setting is no longer Seattle, but rather “New Seattle”, a city completely walled off from the rest of the world. This creates a situation in which zombies and humans must learn to peacefully coexist and history has shown time and time again how difficult that can be – especially when half of that population are a walking, talking meal for the other half. The trailer is also rather ambiguous about Ravi’s (Rahul Kohli) fate, which we learn more about in the season premiere.


iZombie is a series that has only gotten stronger as it has progressed, so the decision to completely upend the show came as a shock. Creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright have used the procedural format to advance an overarching narrative from week to week with great success. The whodunnit is rarely easy to guess and the mysteries never underestimate the intelligence of the viewer. These writers did the same on Veronica Mars, another brilliant, but underrated series. It would’ve been easy for iZombie to continue on just as it had been, but this huge shift will no doubt allow for an exciting new direction.